Chasing Christmas Eve

I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Meet cute...

Run for the hills—temporarily. That's Colbie Albright's plan when she flees New York for San Francisco. Wrangling her crazy family by day and writing a bestselling YA fantasy series by night has taken its toll. In short, Colbie's so over it that she's under it. She's also under the waters of a historic San Francisco fountain within an hour of arrival. Fortunately, the guy who fishes Colbie out has her looking forward to Christmas among strangers. But she's pretty sure Spencer Baldwin won't be a stranger for long.

Make merry...

Spence's commitment to hiding from the Ghosts of Relationships Past means he doesn't have to worry about the powerful—okay, crazy hot chemistry—he's got with Colbie. Just because she can laugh at anything, especially herself... just because she's gorgeous and a great listener just because she gets Spence immediately doesn't mean he won't be able to let Colbie go. Does it?

and hope for a miracle.

Now the clock's ticking for Colbie and Spence: Two weeks to cut loose. Two weeks to fall hard. Two weeks to figure out how to make this Christmas last a lifetime.

I am hopelessly devoted to the hysterically written banter of Jill Shalvis. I eat up the Heartbreaker Bay series in hours every time I start a book! The San Francisco setting, the close friends, the unlikely pairings, it all sings to me!

So, unfortunately, I couldn’t help but have HUGE expectations for Spence’s book. It couldn’t be helped.

Spence is my dream guy. He’s been in the background of all the previous books, just kind of quietly being everyone’s best friend. When in secret, he’s this mega multi-millionaire who engineers and invents. He gets so engrossed in his work that sometimes, when focusing on a solution to a problem, he forgets the world around him. Unfortunately, the world around him has gone by him and left him behind, including past girlfriends. Poor Spence.

Enter Colbie. Escaping from New York City for a short “vacation”, she falls victim to the fabled “wish-granting” fountain outside Spence’s building. Spence feels bad about Colbie’s injury and offers to put her up in one of the apartments in his building. Turns out, there is something that can distract Spence after all!

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this story. Colbie was cute and she had her secrets that gave the plot a bit of drama. But Spence’s character disappointed me. I totally got the nerd distracted by creativity thing. But letting friends walk all over you? Not so much. Elle. Yup… what the heck?!?! I liked her story with Archer but what the heck happened to her in this book? Step off, girl! Okay, rant over… I’ll say no more.

It’s just, overall, compared to the other books in the series, Chasing Christmas Eve doesn’t rank with the others on drama/tension, conflict, and chemistry. BUT this is me, the reader who was expecting BIG things for Spence, my hot, geeky, rich crush. So please take my opinion with large grain of salt (where did that phrase ever come from?).

I am NOT giving up on this series from Ms. Shalvis. NO way, no how. Her writing is fantastic, her humor is top shelf witty, and I can’t wait to pick and up start reading About That Kiss because it’s between two characters we already know. Yeah, I like those kind of stories.

About Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras with her family and far too many assorted quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental.

About Kristin

Kristin has to ensure she gets her minimal requirement of “happily ever after” books in between those books that contain cliffhangers and never-ending story arcs. It’s for her family’s sake. When not reading, she’s homeshooling her 10-year old son, watching cartoons on TV, or taking a nap.

16 responses to “Review: Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis”

Great review Kristin. I loved Spence too but think I said something like not needed my men to be alpha, but expect them not to take any shit. I will share my thoughts during the HoHoHo readathon.kimbacaffeinate recently posted…Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Jenn McKinlay

PLEASE keep an open mind! I’m so sorry you read my review! UGH… You will love this one! Like I said, I had HUGE expectations for Spence. Colbie was really, really adorkable and her story is sooooo cute 🙂

I loved this book, but I so agree about Elle. I loved her in her own book, but here so pissed me off so much. She was so nasty. And I get she’s protective of Spence, but he’s an adult. He can take care of himself.

Oh man, I adored Spence in this book and enjoyed this one a lot more than I did the last couple in this series. That’s what makes the world go round though, so I totally get it. Great review, Kristin. Elle was a bit of a downer in this one, right? I wanted to pull her hair and push her face out of Spence’s business and Colbie’s grill. Still, I’m looking forward to the other books in this series.Rowena recently posted…Ten Books We Want Passionflix to Turn into Movies

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FTC Disclosure

I review books. I'm not paid for my reviews in any way, shape or form. I do get books for free in exchange for my reviews but no one wants to pay me for my opinion, I'm not that important. And my opinion won't be influenced, no matter how much Prozac I take. Besides, a lot of the books I review I buy... with my husband's hard earned money.

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